The Chinese-Mexican Cuisine Born Of U.S. Prejudice - what are the most popular dishes at chinese restaurant

If you ask people in Mexico's city of mexic Cali about their most famous local cuisine, they don't say street tortillas or mole.
They can speak Chinese food.
There are as many as 200 Chinese restaurants in the city.
In the northern border area of Royal California, the population is mainly Latino, but Chinese restaurants are crowded.
The area has dishes that can't be found anywhere else, and the history behind them dates back more than 130 years.
The Salcedo family sits at the coveted booth of Fortune Garden restaurant in El Centro, north of the border.
Mothers and three adult sisters almost drool and wait for their food to appear.
They are from Youma in Aliz. —
More than an hour's journey
Twice a month to eat here.
A huge order came, light-yellow deep-
Fried Chili, this is a dish I have never seen before. Then a salt-and-
Salted fish are described as "Baha' I" with a lot of bell peppers, peppers and onions.
But have you heard of Baha?
Chinese restaurant signature dish?
Mayra Salcedo explained, "It's like a blend of ingredients from Mexico and China.
This is very different from any Chinese restaurant you go to, American Chinese restaurant.
Fortune Garden said: "They don't say barbecue pork when they order
Owner Jay Chow
They said carnitas
Coloradas on Friday.
This is "red pork" in Spanish ".
Came to the United States Zhou. S.
From southern China.
Her husband, Carlos, is from Mexico and works in a Chinese restaurant.
It took her a while to get used to the taste buds of her customers.
"You can see that there is lemon and chili sauce on each table," Zhou said . ".
"We don't eat lemon in Chinese food.
"There are fried yellow peppers on almost every table, which are eaten with lemon sauce and a lot of salt --
A taste of Margarita.
If you believe in rumors, some chefs will marinate pork with tequila.
Not just on the plate of cultural union.
In the kitchen of Fortune Garden, chefs talk to each other in Cantonese.
The waiter speaks Spanish and English.
"The restaurant you see now is a remnant of the Chinese population, which has been flooding the United States in the past. S. -
"Mexico is the border area between Mexico and Lower California," explains Robert Chao Romero, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He teaches in Chicago and Asia.
The American Research Department and the Chinese who wrote the book are in Mexico.
Why are the Chinese there?
Because the Chinese law
In the opposite
S. bill 1882 prohibits immigrants from China from entering the United States. S.
Thousands of people went to Cuba, South America and Mexico.
Many settled down along the United States. S. -
Along the Mexican border, he became a grocer, businessman and restaurant owner.
Others managed to cross the border illegally and make a living in the United States. S.
Including Imperial County.
"The Chinese invented undocumented immigrants from Mexico," Romero said . "
He said they were smuggled in with the help of a tour guide hired to lead them across the border.
Smuggling on ships and trains with fake documents
The infrastructure was invented by the Chinese.
"Today's border patrol has been developed from the mounted police of Chinese inspectors to prevent Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. S.
At the same time, the Mexican government welcomes Chinese immigrants to the sparsely populated border areas to work on farms, mines and rivers. The Chinese-
Mexican cuisine is on the Mexican side of the border and this history has become more prominent as I learned this when driving across the border with George Lin.
He lives in the United States. S.
But commute to Mexico every day.
Lin helps run one of the oldest cities in the city: ellong.
Why do you run restaurants across borders every day?
Lim explained that Mexico's population is close to 1 million, which dwarfs the rural population on the California border.
"As long as you count, you will have more customers in Mexico," he explained . ".
"I don't want to say that, but in Mexico people know much more about Chinese food than they did in imperial times.
"This complexity may come from people who have been eating Mexican food for decades --
The Chinese food here is affected.
Once, it was necessary: Chinese chefs used Mexican ingredients such as chili peppers, chicken paste and certain meats as they were available.
Now, this is part of the culinary heritage.
El Dragon has a new dish: arrachera beef with asparagus and black bean sauce.
Lim said that this is the best meat for tortillas, which is a noticeable effect in Mexico: "asparagus may be Chinese or Mexican, but sauce, black beans,
"I tried a Mexican dish --Chinese-
American hybrid: an egg roll with shrimp, coriander and cream cheese that doesn't look good, but it's really good.
At El Dragon, they put avocado in the fried rice.
Lim said people are still from China, working in restaurants in Mexico, and sometimes these Chefs Move to the north to work in the Chinese kitchen in Imperial County.
"One of the goals is to go to the United States. S.
"To live a better life for you and your children, to give them a better education, a better opportunity, maybe to make dollars instead of pesos," he said . ".
In other words, this is why their ancestors came here from southern China before 130.
The story first appeared in KQED's California report.
Vickie Ly provided assistance in reporting and translation.
The Cal Humanities section supports the "California food Road" series.
Independent journalist Lisa Morehouse made the story at a fellowship event in Hedgebrook, where the female writer lives.